Collegiate Tennis Rules

I was watching Georgia State University play a tennis match earlier today on the courts near where I live in North Atlanta. I noticed there was a few times where the player's serve would barely clip the top of the net but enough where I heard a sound (the serve landed within the service area).

However, neither the server or returner called a let serve and played the point as if nothing had happened. One one occasion, there was a match referee standing by the side of the net with her hand resting on it when the player's serve barely clipped the top of the net (again with the ball landing within the service area), but a let still wasn't called.

Are collegiate tennis rules a little like ping pong where let serves are played as long as the ball lands within the service area?

Mainly, because women don't have a tendency to call a let when the team score is 3-3 on a match point ace when receiving.

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As an avid golfer who's now starting to get back into tennis after 22+ years, I'm a little shocked at how players propensity to cheat has caused D1 mens tennis to treat let serves differently.

Granted, a few golfers will try to cheat here and there, but I honestly think the majority of golfers at the collegiate level respect the rules of golf to the extent that a rules modification isn't necessary.

As an avid golfer who's now starting to get back into tennis after 22+ years, I'm a little shocked at how players propensity to cheat has caused D1 mens tennis to treat let serves differently.

Granted, a few golfers will try to cheat here and there, but I honestly think the majority of golfers at the collegiate level respect the rules of golf to the extent that a rules modification isn't necessary.

It's a shame that isn't the case with D1 mens tennis.

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Don't be shocked. Even more so, don't be naive and put college golfers on some higher imaginary pinnacle of honesty than tennis players.

BUT there are NOT nearly enough cheating collegiate golfers that results in having the rules of golf have to be CHANGED to deal with the cheating.

The same CANNOT be said about collegiate D1 mens tennis in general.

Don't be so naive and defensive by taking my observations about collegiate D1 tennis players so personally.

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Go back and re-read yourself. You're the only one who said anything about cheating. Playing lets also removes additional doubt, saves time and is one less thing to argue. A let call on match point could also be a correct call, then debated. Comparing golf to tennis just because they are self officiated is apples and oranges. They've been playing nets in D1 men's tennis for about 15 years. Welcome back to college tennis.

the ITA rules are changed on a whim because the coaches are the ones who ask for rule changes every December, whether needed or not. I would prefer Men/Women all play no lets on the serve so it takes out all confusion, nothing like doing a men's match and having to bite your tongue everytime the ball clips the tape on the serve.

Go back and re-read yourself. You're the only one who said anything about cheating. Playing lets also removes additional doubt, saves time and is one less thing to argue. A let call on match point could also be a correct call, then debated. Comparing golf to tennis just because they are self officiated is apples and oranges. They've been playing nets in D1 men's tennis for about 15 years. Welcome back to college tennis.

I never said cheating you did. You're welcome to interpret whatever you want. Maybe in my example the player actually did hear a let and the other team argued differently. It's a two way street and playing lets eliminates any uncertainty. If that then makes you make the leap to compare tennis to golf fine.

I never said cheating you did. You're welcome to interpret whatever you want. Maybe in my example the player actually did hear a let and the other team argued differently. It's a two way street and playing lets eliminates any uncertainty. If that then makes you make the leap to compare tennis to golf fine.

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And that's my point.

MUCH more often than not, golfers pride themselves on calling penalties on THEMSELVES when they incur an infraction, whether anyone else saw it or not.

Other sports like tennis? Not so much.

Hence the apparent change in the rules of tennis regarding lets for Mens D1 tennis.

I think the "competitive juices" get amped up more in men's matches and the pace of the shots along with bravado tend to sometimes make people say and do things they wouldn't otherwise do. In coaching both genders, I saw it rarely from my women when they'd be needing to be racheted down. The NCAA took the issue off the table...

Golf is a totally different game. You hit a ball. It doesn't come back at you. You walk a little ways. Hit the ball again. It still doesn't come back at you. You might have trouble finding the ball in the woods but other than that it is one directional. Very slow paced game.

It is not always easy to tell what is happening in tennis. The ball comes at you at 120 mph - your expected to judge the lines, run, hit the ball back equally hard. There is a lot more room for error. Do people cheat yeah but I have seen guys look at the lines and shrug.

Also a lot of the mens serves in D1 are so hard that they barely change direction of they hit the top of the net.